SD-WAN Simplicity Makes Networking and Security a Practical Matter
Leonardo da Vinci reportedly said, “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” History has shown us that Leonardo had an uncanny ability for creating simple solutions that solved complex problems. He was indeed a genius, with inventions that were far ahead of his time.
Traditional networks, with their complexity, are failing us. Human error causes most network vulnerabilities, interruptions and outages. To make matters worse, the methods we use to protect and correct network problems are accomplished through manual intervention. This error-prone approach results in roadblocks that traditional networks have put in front of businesses, creating barriers to success.
Network complexity is out of control
When technology reduces the human benefit and creates negative effort, we all lose. For many decades, traditional networking and security architectures introduced so much complexity, IT administrators spent altogether too much time and effort troubleshooting, fixing, and configuring everything. And it’s getting more challenging every day, with hybrid clouds, expanding mobile users, containers, VMs and multiple vendor products and platforms.
We’ve placed the wrong emphasis upon human intervention and control of technology, by requiring administrators to be so manually involved. The traditional approach of adding security layers with single-function hardware to protect against cyberattacks, has only increased complexity. Our branch offices have become bloated with devices that actually create more risk due to misconfigurations, and lacking awareness of problems caused by network changes and human oversight.
Transforming a manual model with automation and simplicity
We need practical networking and security solutions with simplified and automated approaches that make the work of IT and their users easier, more productive, and less stressful. This is where digital transformation can have a significant impact on IT teams, business users and consumers.
SD-WAN is a transformative technology that simplifies the control of application-driven infrastructure. It helps simplify branch office connectivity, secures access and connectivity, increases reliability, optimizes application performance, and increases network agility. SD-WAN helps lower costs, by providing a more cost-effective and automated WAN architecture needed to fulfill business initiatives.
SD-WAN creates an overlay to virtualize the WAN with centralized control and simplified deployment, provisioning, and management of network and security functions within the WAN edge. Greater control and management, along with application-layer control of service policies, ensures an optimum application experience for users.
Simplifying networking and security using a unified platform removes branch device bloat and complexity. It adds meaningful capabilities that automate and eliminate monolithic configurations and enables the ability to mix and match functions and capabilities as needed.
SD-WAN enables simplicity through a centralized, automated management platform for device and service workflows. It removes laborious manual tasks and eliminates the need for unnecessary human intervention. IT benefits from faster and consistently accurate deployments, that require much less manual configuration.
